Stay With You
by Ralf Jones
Summary: Right from the beginning on Hanged Edge, he was the one to follow her; he was always there to support her in battle...Sazh/Lighting, may contain spoilers.


This fic takes place after the ending of Final fantasy XIII.

**Note 1: This is a Sazh/Lighting fic, I you don't like this pairing turn back now. This pairings needs more love; there is way too much Yuri or Light/Hope fics on this section, this fic is for those who want something different.**

**Note 2: I will be using the Japanese names of the weapons and attacks (Blaze edge sounds way cooler than Blazefire saber).**

Please review and tell me what you think, and of course enjoy!

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**Stay With You**

By Ralf Jones

"So…you are leaving your sister again?"

Lighting glanced over her shoulder to meet the eyes of Sazh Katzroy. With a sigh she turned around to face him. She was a little surprised to see him carrying his guns with him.

"Snow is with her now, he will protect her".

Sazh snorted and crossed his arms "And because of that you are leaving in the middle of the night?" Lighting remained quiet, her eyes moving all-over the campsite that the PSICOM army had build.

"Its better this way, I don't want to see her cry, I'm a soldier, PSICOM will need my help to keep this place safe".

Sazh knew that she was right, she was still a soldier, a sergeant no less, Gran Pulse was full of dangerous creatures. He along with everybody else had faced them in battle. PSICOM will need all the help they can get.

But it was more difficult now. Sazh knew that she no longer possessed the magic of the L'Cie mark. There will be no Odin coming to save her is something was to go wrong.

"After all we've been trough, you are willing to leave all of us behind?"

Lighting glared at him, her anger was rising fast "It's my duty, mine and mine alone!" and after those words escaped from her lips Sazh was right in front of her.

"It's because you do not trust us enough?" he asked quietly. Lighting stared at him for a moment "No, I trust you all more than anyone else in my life" she paused a moment, her mind going over all the moments that she had spent with everybody.

Her friends…

"I cannot take you to a battle that is not yours, you are citizens, and my duty is to protect you". She turned around then, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from moving further.

"I will go with you" he said, his voice was firm; Lighting glanced at him over her shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous, you got to take care of your son".

"You're doing this for the sake of your sister right?" he asked, Lighting remained silent but nodded. He smiled then, one of those carefree smiles he used around his son.

"I'm doing this for the sake of my son, that way I can kill two birds with one shot…" he fell silent in that moment and walked past her taking the same path that lead to the PSICOM and Security Force command post.

Lighting made no move to follow him; her mind was full of questions, and yet she could not find the answers by herself. In the end only one was important.

_**Why?**_

She was strong; she had no need for weakness. She needed an answer and she was going to get it that was all.

Sazh wasn't surprised when a small hand landed on his shoulder forcing him to turn around. Sure enough it was Lighting, her face unreadable. He didn't even hear her approach.

"Why…?" her voice was low a controlled, no hints of hesitation or shyness. That's lighting for you.

Sazh remained silent, he had the feeling that she was not done talking and he was right, after a few moments she spoke again.

"Why do you try so hard…?" her voice raised a little "I'm strong, I don't need your help, I'm a soldier and you are a civilian, you don't have to help me and yet I'm always…!-"she stopped herself. But it was too late, the realization crashed into her. She removed her hand from his shoulder.

_**I'm always happy to see you trying to help, even when you don't have to.**_

Her heart was racing. She was happy, all because he was trying to help her; he wanted to be there to cover her back, that way he also helped to keep his son safe. Two birds with one shot indeed.

_**Why?**_

_**Why am I so happy?**_

Right from the beginning on Hanged Edge, he was the one to follow her; he was always there to support her in battle or to finish with a well aimed shot an enemy trying to get a hit from behind her.

The moment they separated she found herself almost missing him, only Hope was there to keep her company. It was so strange, so alien not to hear the sound of his guns going off on a battle or the fact that when she looked over her shoulder he was not there.

A pair of hands took hold of her shoulders returning her to reality.

"There are only four of us now…" she found herself staring directly into his eyes, unlike her Sazh was a man ruled by his emotions. She realized that the two of them were far too different. A soldier never lets his emotions rule him because that will only make him weak.

But Sazh was not weak; those emotions made him strong and reliable.

"I'm not going to lose anyone else…not again" the pain in those words was evident; Lighting lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Nothing is going to happen to me…" she said, his hands were still on her shoulders, maybe he was afraid to let her go, afraid to lose her just like Fang and Vanille. It was no secret that the ex-pilot used to be quite close to the younger oerba, in a father-daughter kind of way.

"Nothing is going to happen to me because you will be there to support me" she smiled softly, one of her own hands taking hold of his. Sazh sighed in relief while letting go of her shoulders. He noticed that she was still holding his right hand, her smile still in place.

"I'll try not to slow you down…"

"Don't worry about that"

_**Thank you**_

A moment later Lighting realized that her heart was still beating fast.

She was still holding his hand.

The feeling of happiness was still there.

**1 month later…**

She wasn't surprised when she was accepted back on the security force with open arms; after all, the security force was not like PSICOM.

Something that did surprise her was the fact that she was promoted to the rank of coronel and put in charge of training the new recruits in advance combat.

Both PSICOM and the security force were short of man power. Because of that most of the recruits were far too young, some of then looked no older than seventeen.

Lighting directed her gaze towards the young soldiers, boys and girls, the future soldiers of the security force. They all stood in attention, waiting for her to speak.

"It's good to see so many people willing to protect this village, our new home" she paused a moment "I'm Coronel Lighting Farron, you may call me Coronel Lighting or simply Coronel, are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Lighting nodded satisfied with the answer.

They were living in the oerba village now, the old buildings were easy to reconstruct and the lake provided fresh water, the military ships had enough food to keep the people fed, at lest long enough for the farmers to grow vegetables and other kinds of things, the chocobos were still a good source of meat. Not many creatures approached the village, but that didn't mean that there was no danger.

"Your job as part of the security force is to ensure the safety of this village and the civilians, you will have to protect them from the dangers of Gran Pulse" she could see some recruits exchange nervous glances. They knew the kind of creatures that existed in Gran Pulse.

"My job is to teach you how to fight properly and I'll tell you this, no enemy is unbeatable".

"How is that possible Coronel?" asked one of the recruits in the front line. Lighting smirked slowly.

"Teamwork" was her only answer.

"I'll give you a demonstration of how to work like a team".

"Who's going to be your backup Coronel?"

"That's me!" said a voice in the other side of the snow covered training field. Lighting smiled a little watching as Sazh made his way over to her.

Some of the recruits exchanged glances, not knowing who that man was or why was he there. They remained silent however; no one wanted to make the coronel mad on the first day.

"This is Instructor Sazh Katzroy, he will be in charge of training those of you who choose to use a gun and he will be my partner for this demonstration" Lighting nodded towards Sazh signaling him to say something.

"You may call me Instructor Sazh or simply Instructor, hell, you can even call me just Sazh, there's no problem" he said, a wide smile on his lips.

"Um…why is that sir?" asked one recruits in the back.

"Because in just a civilian"

Some of the recruits where murmuring among them self's, not happy with the idea of having a civilian teaching them how to fight.

"Make no mistake…" said Lighting, everyone in the lines fell silent instantly "He can hit any target using two guns without even aiming down the sights".

Sazh pulled out his twin Total Eclipse holding them in front of him for everybody to see.

One gun was silver while the other was black, both polished to perfection, while they were not has visually impressive has the Blaze edge; they were still impressive on their own right.

"Excuse me instructor Sazh, aren't those guns a little…outdated?"

Sazh nodded chuckling while Lighting smirked.

_**Old weapons for the old man indeed**_

"Yes they are soldier, but I'll show you what they can do"

Lighting stepped up, her commanding nature taking over once again "Break formation and stay in the back of the training field, watch and learn"

The recruits obeyed with no hesitation leaving only Lighting and Sazh on the center of the field. Lighting pressed the intercom on her left ear.

"HQ, we are ready let the show begin"

"_Roger, Coronel, King Behemoth on the way_"

A moment later a huge cage was dropped on the field courtesy of a cargo ship. Lighting pulled out blaze edge in gun mode. She looked over her shoulder, a smile formed on her lips.

Sazh was there with her, the twin total eclipse ready.

_**Just like in hanged edge**_

Except that this time she was not mad at his presence, she was happy.

The cage doors opened.

A loud roar broke the silent in the training field and a dark beast stalked out of the cage. His red eyes focused on the people in front of him.

With a defeating roar the beast started to move forward.

_**Here we go**_

Lighting rolled out of the way to the left barely avoiding the huge claws of the beast. She quickly pulled the trigger of her blaze edge two times, the shots impacted on the neck of the target. The behemoth turned around focusing on Lighting, something that proved to by a mistake. Two more shots impacted on his back, the beast roared in pain.

Lighting switched her blaze edge to sword mode; she quickly closed the distance to the behemoth slashing two times his head. She smirked and back flipped at the same time that two more shots from Sazh's total eclipse flew past her landing on the fresh cuts done by her sword.

The behemoth rushed forward ignoring the pain trying to tackle the ex-pilot but he rolled out of the way at the last second. Sazh turned his guns sideways and blasted the beast's side with a volley of bullets. Lighting rushed past him and stabbed the bullet wounds.

The behemoth roared and turned around swinging one of his massive arms, Lighting jumped backwards avoiding the first blow, but them the behemoth used his other arm giving lighting no change to move.

_**Damn I can't dodge**_

Bang!

The King Behemoth stumbled backwards, a new bullet wound on his right arm.

Lighting back flipped until she landed next to Sazh, she noted the rifle he was holding. With one with quick movement he disabled the rifle, transforming it into his pistols.

"Are you ok?" he asked, he eyes still focused on the behemoth.

Lighting nodded slightly "Thanks, you saved me back there" the ex-pilot smiled a little and nodded towards the beast "Looks like its getting ready for phase two" the coronel smirked "Lets finish him"

Sazh nodded "Sure thing Lighting"

In the back of the training field the recruits stood in silent, far too impressed to say something. The battle before their eyes was extraordinary.

"Damn the coronel is amazing!" said a young girl in the front line finally breaking the heavy silent amongst the recruits, some of the soldiers nodded in agreement with her "That thing can't even land a blow on her!" she added.

A tall young man stepped forward "It's not over yet…" he said, his gaze followed the movements of the behemoth "The wounds that were inflicted to that thing are closing!"

The soldiers stared in horror has the wounds on the behemoths side and head stopped bleeding and closed. "Coronel, Instructor get out of there, that thing is going to kill you!" yelled a girl in the back of the group.

The king behemoth was now standing on his rear legs, a huge hand reached to the horn on his head ripping it out, a huge bladed wheel was spinning at the end of it. With a bloodthirsty roar the beast lunged forward.

Lighting rushed to meet the beast halfway jumping over the bladed wheel and slashing its head, the cut was soon followed by four shots courtesy of Sazh. The behemoth turned around swinging the bladed weapon but Lighting was not there.

The beast turned around looking for Lighting.

A moment later the behemoth eyes were shot out by the twin total eclipse.

A roar of pain resonated throughout the snow covered training field. The beast started to attack blindly, its stance broken.

"Here we go!"

And before shocked eyes of the recruits Lighting slashed the king behemoth upwards, the force of the blow sending the giant beast skywards.

She quickly jumped after it.

Odin was no longer with her, but she still had her most powerful move.

_**Scene Drive**_

She started to slash, shot and kick the helpless body of the beast, a feat that defied the laws of gravity. Then came the final blow, a powerful spinning slash that ripped open the chest of the king behemoth.

"Sazh, make sure its dead!" she yelled while she landed heavily on the ground and quickly back flipped to avoid the body of the beast.

Sazh nodded, the barrels of his guns opened wider.

"Wish on these fireworks!"

_**Desperado**_

The body of the behemoth impacted the ground only to be met by a series of explosive shots. Sazh was firing faster, changing stances as he fired, every shot was perfect, and not a single one missed.

Lighting shocked her head and smiled

_**Looks like it's the end of the demonstration**_

"All right, form up!" she ordered at the same time that she holstered her blaze edge

The soldiers did as they were told, some of them were still amazed by the battle, while others keep their eyes on the burned remains of the king behemoth.

"Once I'm finished with all of you, a fight like this will be no problem for you" some of the recruits gulped. One of them raised his hand to speak "Are we going to training like this coronel?"

Sazh stepped forward "Of course not son, this was a demonstration, you will practice using the simulators back in HQ".

The soldiers nodded relieved

"_Coronel Lighting, please respond!"_

"This is coronel Lighting, what's the problem?"

"_We got two packs of gorgonopsid trying to enter the city, one in the front door and another one near the rail bridge, we need backup!"_

"Roger, I'm on my way"

She turned to the young soldiers "Something is happening, break formation a return to the barracks now" she turned to Sazh next "We got two packs of gorgonopsid, one in the front and another one near the rail bridge, witch one do you want?" she asked, something within her was telling her that something was wrong.

"I'll take the ones near the bridge" he answered and turned to leave

"Wait!" he stopped and turned to face her. Lighting reached for the red cape that hung over her left shoulder. Sazh watched with interest as she ripped a little of the red fabric, then she proceeded to tie it on his right arm.

"A gift for good luck?" he asked, half serious, half joking.

She turned to leave "No" she looked over her shoulder a ghost of a smile playing on her lips "If you die, I will be able to recognize your body faster".

They parted ways after that.

It was almost might nigh when she arrived back to her home; well technically it was the house of Vanille and Fang. She and the others were just borrowing it with the exception of Hope; the boy lived with his father a few houses down the street.

Lighting stepped quietly into the house, not surprised to see Snow and little Dajh fast asleep on the couch while Serah was sleeping quietly in one of the beds.

Sazh was not there.

A feeling of uneasiness washed over her, many ideas of what could have gone wrong where playing on her mind.

She forced herself to be calm.

She walked into the bathroom and changed into her sleeping clothes, a big oversized shirt that reached almost down her knees and a pair of short shorts.

_**Maybe he is spending the night in HQ**_

She didn't sleep more than two hours that night.

Just as the sun started to rise in the horizon Lighting was the first one to rise from her bed.

Snow and Dajh were still sleeping on the couch and Serah on her bed, Sazh however, was not there…

The soldier quickly got out of bed and when to the bathroom, after a quick shower she was dressed once again in her uniform, ready to go looking for the missing pilot.

"You're up early Light"

There he was, standing on the door way, the same cheerful smile playing on his lips…

"Did you spent the night on HQ?" she finally asked after a long uncomfortable pause between them. The old pilot moved from the closed door to the small table near the kitchen.

"There was a lot of paperwork after I took care of those monsters, I was up all night taking care of that" he answered simply.

Then Lighting was in front of him, her arms around his neck holding him close to her body. He was surprised by the sudden move, but returned her hug…

And so they stood there holding each other…

When the others were up, they found themselves looking at a strange scene, the pilot and the soldier were making breakfast talking quietly and smiling softly.

Things changed a little after that and life was peaceful…

**1 year later…**

"It's hard to believe that we use to call this place hell"

Lighting nodded silently not even turning around to see the person who had spoken, it was not necessary; she knew that voice too well.

In front of them was the beautiful lake in the center of the Oerba village, they were very lucky to have such beauty just a couple of feet away from their house. The sun was sinking in the horizon now casting a beautiful orange glow in the sky that was reflected in the calm waters of the lake.

"You do know that Snow and Serah are coming over for dinner tonight right?" the pilot asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful moment between them.

The soldier nodded closing her eyes and smiling softly, Snow and Serah Villers, it was very odd that Serah being the younger of the two was the first to get married.

Yet Lighting did not feel lonely…

Sazh was always with her keeping her company and helping her to protect the village or train new recruits.

But before she could say anything a pair of arms snaked around her, Lighting quickly recovered from the initial surprise and relaxed against the chest of her companion.

"This is quite a bold move for you old man" her voice carried a distinctive tone of mischief.

"I'm not that old" he countered playfully and in one swift move Lighting found herself being carried bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?" but her only answer was a sly smile…

Sazh slowly walked into the lake, the water was very cold but that was not going to stop him. Soon enough the water reached a little above his waist.

Lighting gave him a death glare "You better not drop me or your going to be really sorry!"

And then Sazh let himself fall backwards taking the helpless soldier with him…

SPLASH!

"Damn it!"

With her hair and uniform dripping wet standing on the icy water of the lake, Lighting Farron could only glare at the men in front of her, which in any other situation would be enough to scare any man.

But the happy smile on her lips was proof that she was not mad…for now.

That's when they both realized that they were standing too close to one another in the cold waters of the lake. Time stopped for the two of them, the sky was now dark filled with countless stars.

After a long moment of simply looking at each other, the small distance between them closed as their lips meet, her arms going around his neck, his arms going around her back.

The cold of the water was nothing compared to the softness and warmth of her lips…

"You still want me with you, even if I'm old and fragile?"

Lighting laughed quietly and nodded.

There was no need for words, because she was sure that he already knew what she was thinking.

Both of them got out of the water, dinner with Snow and Serah was still on and Dajh was waiting for them.

They were still holding each other and Lighting was still smiling happily…

There was no need for words…

He was still with her, watching her back...

And in the end that meant a lot more to her than a simple _I love you_.

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**Thanks for reading, see you soon.**


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